If i was the Black Sabbath management team or marketing team, i would tell them one thing. Just pick your best new song and play it. The fans are not there for the new stuff. They don’t even care about it. They are there for the classics and if the new stuff is not on par with the classics, don’t play it.

Check out Loner, which is another new song from the greatest thing Ozzy has ever done department, the album 13. It’s awful. I know Ozzy is totally out of key and singing the song so bad, it makes the ears hurt. Even if he did sing it in key, it still can’t help the song, because it is crap. Watch the clip, every time Ozzy grabs the microphone to move around the stage, he takes one step, stops, realises something and moves back to the microphone stand. WHY you ask? That is where his teleprompter is.

So why play a new song if you don’t know the lyrics. He was doing the same for the Sydney show I saw him. The normal Sabbath songs that Ozzy performs on his solo tours, came easy to him and he was a different performer. The other classic Sabbath songs, he had to read, but not as much as the new ones. You watch every live clip of the new songs, and Ozzy does the same movements. His not singing, his reading, making it sound like he is attempting to sing. It is karaoke in front of thousands, who paid up to $160 to watch them perform.

The irony of all this is that Ozzy went public with his version of Bill Ward’s ousting recently. The thing is, it is clear that even Ozzy cant go on for a two and a half hour show. Ozzy mentioned that Bill had post it notes on his drum kit, so that he can remember what to hit on certain songs. So, how is that different from a teleprompter.

If these four songs are indicative of the album to come, it’s going to be a disappointment.

Methademic has the best title i have seen in ages, but it is a shit song.

Loner = Methademic.

People have commented on the brilliant guitar riffs from Iommi. I admit, those four songs have some cool riffs. As a guitarist, I can appreciate that. Cool riffs can’t make the song great, and to have a great song, you need more than just cool riffs.

To be honest, the song titles sound way better than what the songs sound at the moment.

I don’t know why Black Sabbath isn’t releasing the songs to be downloaded via iTunes or to be streamed. It’s just a stupid business model that they are operating on. The live versions out there, are pretty poorly recorded and Ozzy sounds completely out of tune, so get on the front foot and change peoples perception of the songs. Release the auto tune, melodyne processed songs.

It looks Sharon cant compete with the Internet age, the best distribution system ever.